My very first time spending the holidays with my mother’s fiance and his family was different from how I would normally spend holidays. His family is very religious and are all Christians, which at this point in my life, I didn’t know much about or seen a lot of. At first, it was weird but only because it’s different to what I had been used to; it was out of the ordinary. 

During Thanksgiving, we do all of the “normal” things you would do like hangout, laugh, play games. But now, spending time with this new family, I found there were things about myself that I had to change. I had to stop saying words with “God” in it to respect them and to not use His name in vain. This was a big struggle as I wouldn’t realize I was saying that kind of stuff. It was a common use of the word for me at the time. Then, it came time to eat. Like normal, we would have all the standard Thanksgiving food but we weren’t supposed to eat the food until everyone came together, joined hands and said grace. This for me was very strange as we have never done it before. Only after saying grace were we able to dig in. 

Christmas was also a change too. Before, I only remember one time I had gone to Church for Christmas. It was a few years ago and it was just my mom, my siblings and I who went. She wanted us to learn about Christmas but frankly, I was too young to understand any of it so it all went over my head. Now, typically we go to Church with my mom’s fiance’s family, usually a few days before. After that, we would all meet up at a restaurant (usually Wrights Chicken Farm) to eat and be together. Other than those few changes, Christmas is the same while being with them. 

I think that changes in our traditions were weird and awkward in the beginning. It was also difficult, trying to understand and change myself around this new family. I grew to understand their traditions more, respecting and even beginning my own journey of religious pathway. Even if you don’t agree with it, they are still family so we should try to understand why they celebrate the way they do instead of criticizing them.